Milly’s World Cup at the double
Former Shropshire batter Milly Home is looking forward to watching the progress of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup – while preparing for a major tournament of her own.
After coming through the Age Groups and playing for Shropshire Women and Central Sparks, Milly has swapped her cricket bat for a lacrosse stick and is now England’s vice-captain.
She is in full training for the Lacrosse World Cup which is due to be played in Japan next month – but is still hoping to catch some of the T20 World Cup cricket action despite her busy schedule.
Milly was a prolific batter for Shropshire during her age group career and comes from a family with real cricket pedigree in the county.
Dad Ed is a former Shropshire player who is now Director of Cricket for the county club, older brother Charlie is Shropshire skipper while younger brother Jack is just starting out on his professional career with Worcestershire.
When she was 17 she joined the Warwickshire Academy and captained their Under 17 team whilst also playing for the Women’s XI.
That led to her being selected for the Central Sparks in 2020 as the women’s game went professional while she was at Birmingham University, and she played for them for two and a half years before moving to London to train to be an accountant.
“That’s where the switch came. I started playing lacrosse when I was at school (Moreton Hall near Oswestry) and was selected for England for the U19 World Cup during my last year at school.
“After that I focused on cricket but was still in their system and was in the Under 23s. When the cricket came to a stop for me, I went back to lacrosse and joined the senior women’s programme and I’m now the England vice-captain.
“We fly out to Tokyo on July 18 for the World Cup which is really exciting.”
With lacrosse becoming an Olympic sport in 2028 in the USA, there could be the chance for further international recognition for Milly with the GB squad.
“My focus is on England and the World Cup at the moment, what with that and training for my ACA it is pretty full on. But after the World Cup I may look to transition to the GB squad aiming to qualify for the Olympics.”
But she is hoping to find time to watch some of the cricket World Cup and seeing some familiar faces in action.
“I will be watching when I can, I know a few of the girls involved who I’ve played against over the years.”
The highlights of her cricket career for Shropshire include playing for the County U17s as a 15-year-old against a Lancashire side including Emma Lamb and Ellie Threkeld.
“Emma Lamb scored a hundred in a T20, and I remember watching her and thinking she was quality, and we ended up beating them – I don’t think they had been beaten all season so that was a high.
“I scored my first 50 when I was about 14 against Dorset which was cool, and my first 100 came against Oxfordshire at Worfield where I had played a lot of cricket for the women’s side, that was pretty special.”
Milly has been impressed with the growth in the women’s game in recent years.
“I was involved in the very early stage of the professional game – I think there were five contracted players at the Sparks. Now all the Tier One clubs are full time.
“You’ve got competitions like the 100 and it’s a great platform for women’s game and people actually want to go and watch. It’s breaking that mould a little bit which is good.
“Then you have the Women’s IPL which has been incredible and the Australian system is quite mature now which is great for the sport.”
She is looking forward to the cricket where she thinks Australia and India will be strong along with hopefully England.
Player wise, Laura Wolvaardt, Ash Gardner, Marizanne Kapp (she looks a seriously frightening bowler says Milly) and Jemimah Rodrigues are among those she is looking forward to seeing in action.
Milly also thinks England have a great coach in Charlotte Edwards.
“I was lucky enough to have her as a coach when I played in the School Games and she was phenomenal. She was so impressive and made a real impression on us.
“She has a good balance of bringing in youngsters and giving them opportunities alongside the established players who have the experience.”
Although Milly is hoping to watch the cricket, her lacrosse training is taking up a lot of her time.
“We’re training six days out of seven and some days there’s a double session – and obviously I have to fit a 9-5 in there too!
“We do cast some quite envious glances over at the girls playing sport professionally like the cricketers. There’s doctors, accountants, lawyers and an investment banker on our lacrosse team – we just think imagine if this could be our full-time jobs.”